Playback same video w/Online Services or Downloaded Video - One works, one dosn't

[Addict]

Ok, I'm lost.

I love the new Online Services. However, I'm not happy about having to download them individually each time I want to watch something... So, I did the following to resolve this:

I installed iTunes (never used it before) to have an easy way to auto-download a number of Video Podcasts I like. I synchronize those downloads with my NAS, and dump them into the folder where my videos are stored.

Beautifully, Sage sees the videos and I now have pre-downloaded Video Podcasts in my videos directory.

PROBLEM - Some of the HD content does not play well through the videos folder...but works PERFECTLY via Online Services.

For example, the "Budget Health Nut (AppleTV HD) - Appetizers" episode within "Home & Garden" plays great within Online Services. However, when I go to the downloaded version from iTunes, I get audio and I'm lucky to get a new frame every 10-15 seconds (if that).

I've tried changing decoders (using Purevideo), tried changing NumBuffers in the registry, etc. Same issue.

How is this possible? Am I completely missing something here? Is iTunes sending me a different file than what is being published? That's the only guess that makes sense to me... Any thoughts?

[Addict]

Ok, after some more research...

Seems to be 720p HD videos giving me grief.

I've downloaded them via multiple sources, so the files are not different from iTunes than anywhere else.

I'm guessing that Online Services store files locally, instead of in any video directories configured within Sage. So, the difference between Online Services and Videos is how the data is accessed (locally vs. across my network on a NAS).

However, these videos are not pegging my throughput at all. I can push files back and forth across my NAS at 50% of the 100Mbps pipe. These 720p videos don't take much more than 8-12% it seems. I don't have issues playing uncompressed DVD's across my LAN either.

My CPU is not pegged during playback of these videos.

So, I'm at a complete loss. To summarize...

1) It's not that my client can't handle it, because the same files play great through Online Services locally on the machine.

2) While it appears the only difference for me between Online Services and Videos is the location of the file, bandwidth is far from pegged during playback...leading me to believe it's not a network issue.

So now what?


By the way, after testing Juice, Winamp, iTunes, Nimiq, PodPuppy, and Doppler (for Podcasting abilities only)... PodPuppy came out on top. It was the only one (aside from bloated Winamp and iTunes apps) that would actually put a friendly name on the file downloaded. Plus, has good features otherwise.

[Addict]

Ok...more info. It's not just some 720p files. Some 480's are doing it too, but to a lesser extent. They're just choppy, not unviewable like the 720's.

In particular, On Networks (onnetworks.com) seems to have the worst performing files for me.

Again, Online Services work just fine.

I've downloaded some sample 1080i HD files from the following websites and am NOT having issues playing them over my network (just like I do all my other files having problems).
http://www.nextcomwireless.com/r5000/samples.htm
http://www.vasst.com/HDV/FX-1_images-Surfers.htm

They play FLAWLESSLY, pushing ~20-30Mbps across my NAS and LAN.

On yet another bizarre note, the 720p HD Diggnation podcast shows great for me in BOTH Online Services and in my Videos. UGH!

Can anyone PLLEEEAAASE give me some ideas here? I'm really lost...